Silver Maple

I had to go to the bank today, so while I was out I did a lap around my usual lunchtime walk. The silver maple in front of the Holiday Inn was in full bloom:

Silver Maple (Acer saccharinum)

It’s not a very spectacular flower, but I like it anyhow.

Yesterday I noticed that a crocus near my office had bloomed. I was on my way to the grocery store to get a pie for Pi Day when I noticed it, but I didn’t have my camera. I swung by today with the camera, but the flower had closed. Oh well.

When I set out for the pie, I thought I might try the bakery downstairs from my office. I asked the lady there if they had pie, and she said no – but lots of cake. Then she asked, “Does it have to be a pie?” Since I was getting it for Pi Day (March 14, or 3-14, as in pi ~= 3.14), I said, “Yes, it has to be a pie.” Then she surprised me by asking, “Is this for that Pi Day thing?” Wow. I guess Pi Day is famouser and famouser now.

Just in time for me to embrace tau (which is two times pi, and a much better number). There is a manifesto, but I will spare you. Suffice it to say that I think a lot of people would be less confused if we used tau (the ratio of a circle’s circumference over its radius) instead of pi (circumference over diameter).

Tonight was Chess Night again, so I took David to the community center for that. He won all his games tonight. Va took him to the library for chess on Monday, and he played a two-hour game against a guy, ending in a draw. He has still not been defeated.

While he played chess, I did a little shopping. I bought three gallons of wood glue, some cheapo paint brushes, a large sheet of plastic, some paint buckets, and some masking tape. This is, of course, all for the Pathfinders’ cardboard boat. I hauled a bunch of cardboard from the office to the church on the way home. Construction begins on Sunday.

I would guess that most people who drive (or walk) by that tree don’t notice that it’s in full bloom right now. From a distance, it looks fairly drab – as if nothing at all is happening. Silver maple blooms before it puts out leaves. There’s a word for that, but it escapes me.

Great macro of the maple flower! I’m learning with this new (used) Canon point and shoot that shots like that are hard to come by. I have a lot of trouble getting it to focus on anything but the background and I’m missing my manual focus SLR. But not the film.
Sounds like your son would be a worthy chess opponent. I’ll have to challenge him on line someday. It’s been a while (years?) since I’ve played a human being.

Thank you. What kind of Canon do you have? I have to put mine in the macro mode before I attempt a shot like this. I think some of the newer ones will automatically choose the macro mode, but mine does not. The other thing I learned is to not zoom while in the macro mode – it just doesn’t work. Instead, I get close. I was less than an inch away for this shot.

It’s an older powershot A590 that I got at a local second hand store for $45.00. It’s a good camera but has 8000 menus and modes to learn. I’ve tried macro, auto, manual, zoomed or not-you name it. I got a good macro shot at ground level the other day but always have problems when the background is lighter or darker than the subject. Like when the sky is behind a maple bud.

I set mine up so that it focuses on whatever is in the dead-center of the image rather than letting it decide what to focus on. If I want to focus off-center, I first focus, and then re-frame the shot. I don’t know if that helps you or not.